My dad had a froe. And a somewhat similar zop (which dug potatoes). And a fence crimper (hard to describe) and a doo-hickey that undid the dastardly clips that held mid-60s GM door and window handles on.

"I've been collecting unusual tools and other objects for quite a while, and several years ago I started this project of posting them on the web as puzzles for visitors to figure out what they are."

Fun!

That's a cool link. Thanks for sharing. I have a couple of boxes of old tools that belonged to my grandfather and some that belonged to his father. I don't know if any of it is worth any real money, it's just cool stuff to have. I've been thinking I should clean up the two sets of hay hooks and use them as coat hangers by the front door because...well, what the hell else am I going to do with nearly 100 year old hay hooks?

lol. Could have really used the fluorescent light tester today. Wasted a couple hours helping my cousin fix his lights. He said he had recently swapped bulbs so we figured it was the ballast. Eventually figured out it was a different set of bulbs he had swapped out but that made it a heck of a lot easier than trying to understand how the heck they wired the darn ballasts on this thing.

Yeah, the adze is neither unique nor unusual. Just old. Same goes for the brace and bit, made obsolete by power tools, but it's still useful for that one-in-a-million occasion when you need to drill a hole without using electricity.

Given the first one I would expect tools like the jig pick and tube guide (for lack of a better term), but they just went old.

I was looking for a Super Saw for a couple of my house projects (or rather, the concept of one...I didn't know they existed until this article). Always had to make due with other, less elegant approaches.

Who the hell thinks an adze is obscure, or that you'll never use one? It's been a standard woodworking tool since like 8000 BC, and will remain a standard woodworking tool long after no one remembers that "Popular Science" used to be a magazine or periodical of some kind anymore.

//Admittedly the standard design isn't quite what is pictured in the article anymore, multiple parts make it easier to design a smaller planer in the age of machined steel.

You can adze me to the list of people who find it a useful tool... I used one recently to help dig out and lever the lid open on a septic tank. I also used a scythe often when I was in my teens.

Here's a tool no guy should ever have to use on an animal:

The Elastrator. It's used to stretch open a tiny, heavy duty rubber band about the size of a cheerio so you can slide it over an animals nuts or tail. After a week or so the part drops off. We also had a special pair of pliers meant to dig out the horn buds on lambs so they never grew horns.

Froe, Adze, scribe, and a lot of others you wouldn't know.I had to skin a truck load of slippery elm logs once with a draw knife.Not fun.Used to split wood with a sledge and wedges.One day, I said, dad, someone should invent a wedge that goes on the sledge handle.Oh, they make those son, they are called mauls.WHY THE HECK DON'T WE HAVE ONE!?!?!?

One day, he had me pulling studs out of winter tires so he could legally use them in the summer. the studs were worn to the treads, and he gave me pliers.How's it going?Well, dad, if someone would invent pliers that locked in place, this woul be easier.Oh, they make those son, they are called vice grips.WHY THE HECK DON'T WE HAVE ONE!?!?!?

I think he was trying to tick me into spending my allowance on tools he could borrow.It worked, too.

Nuclear Monk:I was looking for a Super Saw for a couple of my house projects (or rather, the concept of one...I didn't know they existed until this article). Always had to make due with other, less elegant approaches.

Home Depot used to rent jamb saws, probably still do. I would advise care in use, they have no guard.

I have an adze rescued from service as a garden tool, found at a garage sale a long time ago. Since I'm never going to do any timber framing anyone who wants it is welcome to it. You can reimburse me for postage after it shows up. (I'm thinking this will wind up being around $15-ish). It's definitely an adze, not a mattock, because it has a poll.

Email in profile if you're interested.

Phil Moskowitz:Pff, I grew with violin making. There ain't nothing weirder than that with respect to tools.

Photobucket's blocked at work but I'm definitely going to have to check that out when I get home, it's right up my alley. Me, I haven't been around my old haunts much lately but I was a Neanderthal, a porch-dweller, a Galoot in days gone by, in case those terms ring a bell. I still sort of have a "saw problem"...

I've used an adze more times than I care to think about. We had a farm when I was young, and it was one of my jobs to go out and chop thistles and mullen (noxious weeds that you could get fined for having too many of on your property, and they'd spread like crazy if you didn't fight to keep the population down). You could spray for them, but it was not that effective, and you couldn't really drive the sprayer through most of the cattle grazing land.

i used to go out with an adze, an empty bag (the big 40-lb dog food bags), and a pair of gloves, and not come back until I had a bag full of thistle heads. In the summer, in Kansas, where it was regularly 100 degrees.

Throwing square bales was relatively easy in comparison to those days.

Hiliarious. I own a froe, an adze, and a timber scribe. I've only used my scribe twice, but the froe & adze get regular use. The froe is for more than just shingles - it's a great way to split planks from rounds, if you're in a hurry - and the adze is a great way to strip bark from logs prior to cutting them into rounds.

The froe is essential for certain types of shingles - a skilled user can crank out shingles pretty damned quickly, and if you're doing an entire house that way, well, it's actually much cheaper to use a froe than it is to buy shingles. In the same vein, there would be quite a few folks here in the Pacific Northwest that would laugh at the "the adze has mostly gone the way of the dodo" quote.

I suspect the author doesn't have a damned clue, and just drummed up a mishmash of odd tools hoping to get paid by the word for this silly-ass article. There are tools that are far odder, more specialized, and less used, than at least half of the selection he chose...

Should've read closer - the author really doesn't have a damned clue. The description for the timber scribe is inadequate. The point of a timber scribe is to transfer shapes from one piece of wood to another - for example, to trace lap joints for log cabins. Curved edge for circles, straight edge for lines. You can use it to plan rough timber joints on site, so you can use hand tools, like an ax and auger, to do rough framework. That's what I used mine for, twice.

The amusing part, of course, is that the explanation the author gives happens to be from the first hit on Google for "timber scribe." It's not a common usage - in fact, it's not the obvious usage, either. I get the impression the author assembled the info in this list from the first Google hits he could find...

maxheck:You can adze me to the list of people who find it a useful tool... I used one recently to help dig out and lever the lid open on a septic tank. I also used a scythe often when I was in my teens.

Here's a tool no guy should ever have to use on an animal:

[i50.tinypic.com image 370x370]

The Elastrator. It's used to stretch open a tiny, heavy duty rubber band about the size of a cheerio so you can slide it over an animals nuts or tail. After a week or so the part drops off. We also had a special pair of pliers meant to dig out the horn buds on lambs so they never grew horns.

Mid_mo_mad_man:maxheck: You can adze me to the list of people who find it a useful tool... I used one recently to help dig out and lever the lid open on a septic tank. I also used a scythe often when I was in my teens.

Here's a tool no guy should ever have to use on an animal:

[i50.tinypic.com image 370x370]

The Elastrator. It's used to stretch open a tiny, heavy duty rubber band about the size of a cheerio so you can slide it over an animals nuts or tail. After a week or so the part drops off. We also had a special pair of pliers meant to dig out the horn buds on lambs so they never grew horns.

Farm life is a lot less fun than portrayed in popular culture.

Funny on are bull calves we just used a razor blade. Same on pigs

We used to use rubber bands as well, on the Edwards farm. Nothing this special, though - just good old rubber bands, that's it.